Green Room

Pelosi to Democrats: sacrifice yourselves for Obamacare

Nancy Pelosi has decided that she is going to put her career on the line to get Obamacare passed. For her, it doesn’t matter how ardently the American people are against it. She’s going to get it passed, even if it costs her seat in the House… and she wants other Democrats to do the same thing.

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi urged her colleagues to back a major overhaul of U.S. health care even if it threatens their political careers, a call to arms that underscores the issue’s massive role in this election year.

Lawmakers sometimes must enact policies that, even if unpopular at the moment, will help the public, Pelosi said in an interview being broadcast Sunday the ABC News program “This Week.”
“We’re not here just to self-perpetuate our service in Congress,” she said. “We’re here to do the job for the American people.”

It took courage for Congress to pass Social Security and Medicare, which eventually became highly popular, she said, “and many of the same forces that were at work decades ago are at work again against this bill.”

It’s unclear whether Pelosi’s remarks will embolden or chill dozens of moderate House Democrats who face withering criticisms of the health care proposal in visits with constituents and in national polls. Republican lawmaker unanimously oppose the health care proposals, and many GOP strategists believe voters will turn against Democrats in the November elections.

And while Nancy Pelosi might be trying to appear noble by sacrificing her career for the admirable goal of passing sweeping health care reform, it’s a shallow and feeble attempt. She claims that they’re there to “do the job for the American people”… but that isn’t what Democrats are doing, and their job in Congress is not to just run wild on a crazy spree of spending and power-usurping. Too many politicians — both Democrat and Republican — have forgotten that they are not royals who get to make decisions with no repercussions based solely on what they want, and screw what the little people think. Politicians are supposed to be public servants. They’re supposed to be representing the interests of their constituents, and that clearly isn’t what they’re doing here with Obamacare. They aren’t trying to reform health care into a European socialist system for the good of their constituents. They know darn well that their constituents want nothing to do with Obamacare, yet Pelosi is trying to get her Democrats to soldier on anyways. And she’s not trying to do it for the good of the American people, no matter how noble she may try to sound. They’re doing it because they want to, because they get to be exempt, because it gives Washington more power, and because they are radical socialist liberals. It doesn’t matter to them if Obamacare makes the quality of health care in the United States much worse. Congress gets to opt out. And if massive numbers of Democrats get voted out because Obamacare got passed, then who cares? They still accomplished their goal and the little people got screwed.

Thankfully, this approach isn’t likely to endear many Democrats to the idea of voting for Obamacare. When you tell politicians that something is likely to anger their constituents and cost them their career, then why would they still want to vote for it? There are only a handful of Democrats in the House who are as extreme as Pelosi is. Sure, the more moderate Democrats might try going for Obamacare if they thought they could get away with it unscathed. But are they all so committed to passing Obamacare that they’d risk reelection? Some of them are, but for sure, a good number of them are not. If Nancy Pelosi’s goal with this was to rally her troops, it was a poor rallying call, and likely will only serve to make more Democrats think about distancing themselves even further from Obamacare.

Cross-posted from Cassy’s blog. Stop by for more original commentary, or follow her on Twitter!

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It took courage for Congress to pass Social Security and Medicare, which eventually became highly popular, she said, “and many of the same forces that were at work decades ago are at work again against this bill.”

Social Security and Medicare are not popular any more than the idea of recovering what has been stolen from you is “popular”. It’s like saying people like crime because there are so many folks prosecuting the criminals.

The “forces at work” against this power grab are the American People and we see what they did there and what they are trying to do now. We do not want the US government officials setting up perpetual jobs and power for their friends at the expense of our money, liberty and freedom.

These government programs shut down & shut out the private markets, while empowering the growth of an inefficient government. Moreover it changed out perceptions of our elderly population – from sage long living survivors, beloved family members with valuable knowledge, to burdens in diapers not worthy of our resources.

How do those people with pre-existing conditions think this government plan will paint them? Burdens. They do not understand what hell they will be put through to get care, they should go ask someone on Medicare how “popular” that plan is.

Pelosi’s seat is in no danger, although her speakership certainly is.
That makes her even more of a hypocrite.
Were I one of her democrat minions looking at an angry electorate, I would say to her, “You first Madame Speaker. Announce today that you will not seek re-election and will lead by example in not “self-perpetuating our service in Congress.” Show me you truly think this vote is more important that your seat in Congress and I will follow your example and let the chips fall where they may. Otherwise, I am going to vote the way my constituents want.